Patents

First Publication Date: 1st October 2010 Introduction
Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 of the American constitution gives congress the power to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries. In furtherance of the power granted to it by the constitution, the congress has enacted the Patent Law, which has been codified under Title 35 of the United States Code. The objective of the US patent law as stated in the constitution is to promote the progress of science and technology. The patent...

First Publication Date: 16th August 2010 As per Section (35) of the Patents Act, 1970, the Controller may notify a patent application (i.e. a patent application before the grant/refusal) as a secret. The patent application may be of a class notified by the Central Government as relevant for defense purposes or may be up to the discretion of the Controller. The patent applicant is further prohibited from publishing information related to the patent application or communicating information related to the patent application to any third party. The patent application is then forwarded to the Central Government for consideration, whether the public...

First Publication Date: 29th June 2010 The much awaited Bilski decision has been pronounced by the US Supreme Court (Bilski v. Kappos). This closely watched and highly discussed case revolves around patentability of Bilski's hedging of risks business method invention. From the day when the patent examiner rejected Bilski's claims calling them 'mere manipulation of an abstract idea' the controversy has given rise to a lot of potent questions including the likes of patentability of software and business methods and restrictions on 35 USC 101. The debate got aggravated when the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) decided that the...

“Indian patent statistics, Interesting inventions, Mission RakshaGyan Shakti – A new initiative by the Defense Ministry of India, Government of Karnataka to unveil a virtual marketplace for IP, IP Awareness Seminar held in University of Kashmir, Abbott Laboratories in yet another turmoil, this time over a stent patent and other Weekly Patent News updates” presented by the Patent attorneys and experts of BananaIP Counsels, India’s leading Patent Firm. Design Quote of the Week
“Design transcends agenda. It speaks to the politics of optimism.” – Paul Bennett, Principal Researcher in Microsoft Research AI. Indian Patent Statistics
A total of 760 patent applications have been published...

First Publication Date: 10th June 2010 NTP has filed a patent infringement suit in a US District Court against Apple, Google, Microsoft, Motorola, HTC and LG. It alleged in the suit that the companies are liable for infringing eight of its patents relating to sending emails over wireless networks. This suit is significant because of two reasons: a. NTP is a patent troll, whose business model revolves around acquiring patents and licensing or enforcing them. It does not have any research activity and allowability of patent trolls for the said reasons had therefore been the subject of debate at the policy level;...

First Publication Date: 24th June 2010
A patent was granted to CSIR with respect to a composition useful for protecting and/or repairing DNA from oxidative damages. The value of cow's urine has been emphasized in ancient Indian texts including the rig veda. Cow's urine is known to not only have medicinal value but is also used to purify ayurvedic medicines. The patent granted to CSIR claims a composition for preventing and repairing damage to DNA due to oxidation. The patent abstract and the first claim has been provided hereunder for your reference:
United States Patent 7,718,360
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Composition (RCUD) for protecting and/or repairing DNA...

First Publication Date: 9th June 2010 The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has recently incorporated materials on yoga to the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL). The materials include data on various yoga postures and videos relating to them. The information on yoga has been collected by CSIR from ancient Indian texts such as Patanjali. As per Dr. Gupta from CSIR, the addition of the materials to TKDL will play an important role in preventing patent grants relating to yoga in the USA, Europe and other countries. The efforts of CSIR raise the question of whether yoga postures and processes can...

First Publication Date: 27th May 2010 I noticed this Godrej Tribolt lock (which can be seen below) carrying prominent notices about the Intellectual Property related to it (seen below) The above notice is an example of a good patent notice, in that it complies with S.111(1) of the Indian Patent Act, 1970, which reads as In a suit for infringement of a patent, damages or an account of profits shall not be granted against the defendant who proves that at the date of the infringement he was not aware and had no reasonable grounds for believing that the patent existed.
A person shall not be...

First Publication Date: 7th June 2010 Most of us fly frequently. But, we might not have paid attention to the most vital piece of safety equipment for a passenger; the seat belt. If you flip the receptacle portion of the belt, you will see a notice which states "Patent 5088160". The referred patent is assigned to Am-safe, Inc and was filed on February 5, 1990 (and has subsequently expired on February 5, 2010). The two independent claims are as follows: Claim 1: A webbing adjustor for adjusting and locking seat belt webbing which is anchored at one end, the webbing adjuster including a base...

A very hearty congratulations to everyone who cleared the first round of Patent Agent Examination. The Indian Patent Office today has announced the Patent Agent Examination Result for the exam that was held on October 28th, 2018. The Controller General notified the public in a notification that the Patent Agent Examination would be held in two phases – Written round and Viva Voce. Over 4,000 applicants from across India appeared for the examination that was held across centers located in the cities of Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and RGNIIPM, Nagpur. As per the notification that was issued today, a total of 1473...